Re: The Potentials....

["John M. Dollan" <dollan@cyberport.net>]

Chris Campbell wrote:
> 
> 
> My guess is that it wouldn't happen at all.  Dinosaurs did very well for
> well over 200 million years without moving toward sapience, and I see no
> reason whatsoever why they'd inevitably move in that direction.  More
> likely they'd tend toward more specialized forms, leaving sapience out
> of the picture.

Ah...this has been a wondering point for me ever since I started this
project.  But could not intelligence be a specialized form of
specialization...kind of a runaway form of specialization?  Now, I'm not
well versed on what factors might have lead to human intelligence, but I
had always thought it a result of climatic pressures....the need to
adapt to the Ice Age climate...the adaption to open spaces rather than
woodland...the change into a cooperative manner of group living...and so
on and such.
> 
> However, since this is speculative fiction you're talking about that
> answer doesn't help you much.  That being the case I'll say that IMO the
> dino most likely to develop sapience would likely be a coelurosaur of
> some sort.  This group has proven to be very very flexible, giving rise
> to a wide variety of forms relying on more brainpower than your average
> dino.  I think it definitely would *not* be a dromaeosaur or troodontid;
> these are specialized forms, and I wouldn't expect sapience out of them
> any more than a leopard or a wolf.

How about an Oviraptorid?  I'm not sure what type you mean when you say
coelurosaurs, since they seem to encompass a wide variety of animals.
> 
> 
> Well, hope this helps some.  I'll be interested to see the results!


Well, with any luck, I'll have something published in a year or two!
-- 
John M. Dollan
Montana State University-Northern
Graduate Assistant
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/1861/
ICQ# 308260

"To make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the
universe...."  Carl Sagan